Above: Featured artists on Marais Project’s tenth album release, plus long term colleagues onstage for the Musica Viva In Schools initiative- Jennifer Eriksson (viola da gamba) and Anthony Abouhamad (harpsichord). Photo: supplied.
The latest release in an impressive string of recordings from The Marais Project is Exquisite Harmonies (Move Records MCD676).
This album’s smooth and stunning swoop presents works from some of the most prolific composers of the French and German Baroque. Many were renowned and sought after gambists of their day. Others were able to provide Baroque gesturing and expression on any string, keyboard or wind instrument, with results of considerable richness offered up by the viola da gamba – centric environment of the Marais Project.
This includes the group’s focus composer Marin Marais-the French ‘Angel’- which The Marais Project is now some 85 percent of its colourful way through its aim of presenting this gambist-composer’s entire viola da gamba works to us in concert’s and recordings. This is no mean feat, as this composer’s five books – of Pièces de viole -written smack bang in the centre of the Baroque Period contain well over five hundred works
Marais’ ‘devilish’ rival, the infamous gambist-composer Antoine Forqueray also features on this release. This notorious string superstar – as gambist Jennifer Eriksson enlightened us at the launch via her joyously enthusiastic, warm, personal and highly interesting commentary-was want to produce compositions only he could easily master and be naturally suited to. His Chaconne La Buisson was presented in able conversation and fine shaping of the variations at the launch, as it is on the album release for us to find, and listen to both in the album’s flow or on repeat.
Above: (l-r) Jenny Eriksson and Susie Bishop perform at the ‘Exquisite Harmonies’ launch. Photo: supplied.
Careful programming and curating of representative Baroque works for this latest album provide a real 360 degree view of the gamba and also the harpsichord as heard and inspiring practitioner-composers of the day. The Project’s ubiquitous brand in our concert plus album release landscape remains solid through this recording’s journey. It was delivered securely both at the sold out live launch and offered on streaming services with a consistently earnest, elegant, captivating approach.
At the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct (Choir Rehearsal Room, Wharf 4/5) there were so many audible gasps of gratitude following works. Any fresh album on the market and in The Marais Project’s lengthening history could wish for no better encouragement from an existing and new fan base.
The gorgeous excellence of the viola da gamba-with its veiled but highly expressive voice- a mix of soulful longing and startling agility plus an ability to blend so well with continuo and other instruments – is consolidated many times over within the tracks of this release. The choice of venue for last weekend’s album launch was very good- as the acoustic launching pad enabled Eriksson’s viola da gamba to speak with confident voice. The plaintive plus energetic sides of her gamba blended beautifully with the precision and deft keyboard structures provided on the superb Musica Viva instrument by harpsichordist, co-founder of Sydney’s Muffat Collective and historically informed performance specialist, Anthony Abouhamad.
It is the collaboration with the harpsichord, here brought way out of a contiuo role which is one of the features keeping the diversity and sonic smorgasboard of The Marais Project’s discography alive and relevant. Die-hard Marais Project fans have plenty of exposure to Marais. This is via highly programmatic, specifically characterised movements making up his Suite in G major. This work has movement labels referring to the garden, a dancing milker and a decent bit of Gallic humour as well as scherzo-like fun to finish.
We are also treated on this album to a decent spotlight on the solo harpsichord, here so cleanly rendered by this album’s collaborator. The solo works were brought to our modern lives so thoughtfully at the Wharf Launch.
Anthony Abouhamad on this album brings us the chiselled extemporisation of Baroque master Telemann through a layered, agile and imaginitive reading of his Fantasia (Vivace) for Harpsichord in F Major, TWV 33:5, which precedes in album order Telemann’s mastery of expression for continuo and viola da gamba. This is in the form of measured excellence in recorded and live launch performance of the German composer’s Sonata in A Minor, TWV 41:a6.
Abouhamad’s solos are augmented by a very Baroque-stlyed response as composer to Telemann’s Baroque, ‘irregular pearl’ inventiveness, in a Fantasia of his own making.
Above: Harpsichordist Anthony Abouhamad. Photo supplied.
This original from the Marais Project guest performer-composer is a colourful, capable outpouring . I enjoyed hearing it in a live, spontaneous-feeling format, full of colour at the launch concert. Its new-from-old filigree was familiar to me by that stage.
Also, my instant favourite features of this original work I noticed on hearing the composition initially on Exquisite Harmonies was keenly reproduced live. These were namely a harmonic mesh that was very exquisite, plus a series of effective dramatic pauses.
The solo harpsichord presence continued at the Walsh Bay launch and is nicely woven into the tapestry and flow of the album’s French gamba finery. A nicely championed (and revered in Anthony’s live-launch introduction) single movement character piece by Couperin, Les Silvains Majesteusment, sans lenteur, pleased many.
Anthony’s enthusiasm for this composer was appealing, and his playing on the recording and celebrates the composer, proving the French master to be to the harpsichord what the French gamba-composers were for Jennifer Eriksson in the remainder of the album and live concert.
And what of this substantial remainder? In true Marais Project proven style, the album contains a real coup d’éclat at its inspiring heart. A musicologically secure, tranche d’histoire gives us the so-called ‘Grande Suite’. This collection (not of contrasting dance movements like a typical Marais work) but a sequence of who’s-who or who-learned from who, or who composed and performed parallel-to whose career emerges as an enlightened, instructive pastiche withing the album concept.
Above: Jennifer Eriksson. Photo: supplied.
An expressive quasi-plainte from Marais’ teacher Saint- Colombe (Les Pleurs) begins the Grande Suite tour, heartstrings tugged as Eriksson’s seven gamba strings resonate. Then from Louis de Caix d’Hervelois one of my album cherished favourites, a highly characterised work as is much of the tracks on this album. Viola da gamba ands continuo delivered a nuanced line of story throughout the major/minor suite with movements: ‘L’Agreable’ – ‘La Fanatique’ – ‘Allemande’.
The Grande Suite continues juxtaposing composers-célèbre, with Eriksson and The Marais Project’s pin-up portrait painter of the Baroque gamba, Marain Marais, before launching into the afore-mentioned fiendishly intricate Forqueray composition. At the live launch, often-heard collaborator Susie Bishop contributed with inimitable clear voice and violin tropes throughout the swoop of the Grand Suite. Once again, the balance, joy and integrity of this performer and the ensemble created with gamba and harpichord were a thing to cherish.
So too a thing to cherish, this new recording starts with the simple promoting of the viola da gamba voice in an accessible and charming sonata from Abel. Then it travels all around Europe and showcases various instrumental possibilities for expression during the Baroque era.
The diversity of The Marais Project on albums continues with this release. Acceptance is work that rounds out this recording and the Project’s contribution to Sydney and Australia. The album concludes with a sobering reminder that post-Baroque times, monumental actions of a less elegant, decorative nature were about to occur in the Australian colony.
This poignant piece by First Nations composer Troy Russell was originally conceived as a musical acknowledgement of country, the song which was arranged by lutenist Tommie Anderson did just that at the Wharf Bay Arts Precint Launch. The track/ piece again features Susie Bishop’s interpretation using voice and violin of the special, ethereal text plus atmosphere.
The Marais Project: EXQUISITE HARMONIES – album is available as CD and download from MOVE Records, Buywell Music, iTunes and streaming platforms including Apple Music (also mixed in Dolby Atmos), Spotify and as a high-resolution download.
